Investors Purchase High Volume of Plains All American Pipeline Call Options (NYSE:PAA)

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders purchased 60,729 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,266% compared to the average daily volume of 4,446 call options.

Plains All American Pipeline Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:PAA opened at $20.96 on Friday. Plains All American Pipeline has a 12-month low of $15.02 and a 12-month high of $21.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71 and a beta of 1.64.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.06. Plains All American Pipeline had a net margin of 2.08% and a return on equity of 11.63%. The firm had revenue of $12.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. Plains All American Pipeline’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Plains All American Pipeline will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Plains All American Pipeline Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Plains All American Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.25%. Plains All American Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 113.39%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Plains All American Pipeline

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Axiom Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 15,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV grew its position in Plains All American Pipeline by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV now owns 12,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 16.3% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 6,094 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,195 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $294,000 after acquiring an additional 885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 18,146 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 887 shares in the last quarter. 41.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on PAA. Raymond James increased their price target on Plains All American Pipeline from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Scotiabank restated a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Plains All American Pipeline from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Plains All American Pipeline presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.21.

Plains All American Pipeline Company Profile

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., through its subsidiaries, engages in the pipeline transportation, terminaling, storage, and gathering of crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) in the United States and Canada. The company operates through two segments, Crude Oil and NGL. The Crude Oil segment offers gathering and transporting crude oil through pipelines, gathering systems, trucks, and on barges or railcars.